Biologists from Indiana University have found that over the past 250,000 years, people have had children an average of 26.9 years old, with mothers’ age falling about 10,000 years ago and rising again in the last 5,000 years. They wrote more about it in a magazine article. Science Advances.
Children’s DNA, inherited from their parents, contains about 25-75 new mutations. Its characteristics depend on the age of the parents. Based on available genomic data, scientists have developed a method that allows to calculate at what age children have been conceived in the last 250 thousand years.
As it turned out, people on average had children at the age of 26.9 during this period. Women gave birth at 23.2 years old and men became fathers at 30.7 years old.
The age of parents decreased about 10 thousand years ago – probably due to the rise of civilization, which caused an increase in population. Over the last 5,000 years, the average age of mothers has been 26.4, with a gradual upward trend. The age of the fathers remained the same.
The study’s authors say the results provide a deeper understanding of the demographics of ancient humans and contribute to a better understanding of history.